First Builders
The First Builders Podcast from The Council dives into the stories of those who go first—founders, funders, and early operators who helped build category-defining companies before they were household names. Hosted by General Partner Amber Illig and Partner Rachel Tsui, each episode brings a candid, practical conversation with someone who has helped shape companies before there was a playbook.
First Builders
Inside Clinical Trials: Kyle McAllister on Infrastructure, AI, and Building in Healthcare
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In this episode of First Builders, Amber Illig and Rachel Tsui talk with Kyle McAllister, Co-founder and CEO of Trially, about what it really looks like to build inside the clinical trial ecosystem.
Kyle shares how his experience working across Epic and Cerner shaped his understanding of healthcare systems and why clinical trials remain one of the most operationally complex parts of the industry. What seems like a data challenge at first often turns out to be a workflow and coordination problem in practice.
Through Trially, the team is focused on helping clinical sites identify and enroll patients more efficiently by working directly within existing systems. Instead of replacing infrastructure, the goal is to improve how teams operate day to day.
Amber and Rachel also explore what it takes to build in healthcare, from establishing trust with customers to navigating long timelines and deeply embedded processes. The conversation highlights how credibility and real experience in the space can change the trajectory of a company early on.
Topics covered:
- What EHR implementations look like on the ground
- Where clinical trial workflows slow down
- Why connecting healthcare systems is difficult
- How trust influences adoption in clinical environments
- The role of AI in improving patient matching
- Building with co-founders from different backgrounds
- Selling into healthcare organizations
- Why progress in healthcare takes time
- Lessons from moving into entrepreneurship
This episode offers a grounded look at building in healthcare, where progress depends on understanding both the systems and the people operating within them.
FOLLOW KYLE MCALLISTER
Website: https://www.trially.ai/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylemcallister
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